Health Information Technology Toolkit foR HOME HEALTH - Section 1. Adopt

1.1 Assess

The Adopt - Assess section provides tools to start using the Health Information Technology (HIT) Toolkit for Home Health. The tools in this section include surveys, inventories, and assessments of your staff's current attitudes toward information technology, computer skills, and technical infrastructure. The tools will help you develop a communication plan and business case, and can be used throughout the remainder of your project.

Overview of Tools. This overview provides an inventory of all the tools in the toolkit. The tools are listed in the order in which they would be used for a comprehensive HIT or electronic health record (EHR) project. Select tools may be used for acquiring individual applications, planning a major system acquisition, or overhauling existing systems. (5-page Word doc)

How to Use the Toolkit. This Word document, PowerPoint presentation, and Webinar introduce the toolkit, with descriptions of its purpose, instructions for use, types of tools, and how individual tools are structured. (4-page Word doc)

How to Use the Toolkit. (19-slide PowerPoint)

How to Use the Toolkit. (15-minute Webinar)

HIT Project Governance. Establishing an HIT governance structure provides authority for decision making at the lowest level possible for each type of decision to be made. Use this tool to identify the decision making tasks you may encounter and at what level each decision should be made. (3-page Word doc)

HIT Project Documentation. Committee meetings are essential for planning, making decisions about HIT, and optimizing the use of HIT. This tool includes tips to help you find ways to work more effectively in meetings, along with a sample agenda and minutes. (4-page Word doc)

Clinical Leadership. HIT projects demand leadership from nurses and physicians. Other clinicians and administrative/financial staff also play key roles. This tool outlines their roles. (3-page Word doc)

Project Management. This tool differentiates the roles of project management and program management, and lists the general functions a project manager is expected to perform, including project documentation. (2-page Word doc)

HIT Visioning and Strategic Planning. This Word document, PowerPoint presentation, and Webinar describe a vision for HIT in home health agencies, including the purpose of implementing an EHR, along with a conceptual model of an EHR and suggestions for strategic planning. (4-page Word doc)

HIT Visioning and Strategic Planning. (23-slide PowerPoint)

HIT Visioning and Strategic Planning. (31-minute Webinar)

Communication Plan. Regular communication with all stakeholder groups helps reduce the uncertainty inherent in adopting HIT, and engages all stakeholders. Build your communication plan using this template. (6-page Word doc)

Organizational Readiness Assessment. Use this tool to help understand your organization's readiness for adopting an EHR and other HIT. (4-page Word doc)

HIT Attitudes Assessment. Understanding early attitudes and beliefs can help with effectively planning and providing the right education. (5-page Word doc)

Computer Skills Survey. This survey helps identify the skills needed for implementing an EHR and other HIT. (2-page Word doc)

Financial Assessment. Paying for a major HIT investment is challenging for every organization, but especially for independent home health agencies. This tool provides a description of various sources of funds that may be available for HIT if you are in an independent facility. (5-page Word doc)

IT Staffing Inventory. Use the IT staffing inventory to determine which information technology (IT) staffing skills may be needed to implement specific HIT components. (6-page Word doc)

IT System Inventory. Use the IT staffing inventory to identify and document all existing IT hardware in order to assess and budget for hardware required for each HIT application acquired. (5-page Word doc)

HIT Security Risk Analysis. Use this tool to help assess needs related to compliance with HIPAA Security Rules and data breach notification laws in Minnesota. (7-page Word doc)

Chart Review. Use the contingency plan assessment tool to identify and document all existing back up functions, emergency mode operations, and disaster recovery plans in existence, and to plan for enhancements as more mission critical, clinical information systems are adopted and paper-based systems are eliminated. (2-page Word doc)

Billing Review. Use the tool below to evaluate your current performance on client financial functions and to aid you in implementing appropriate workflow and process improvements through use of the HIT you seek. (1-page Word doc)

1.2 Plan

The Adopt - Plan section emphasizes the importance of planning ahead. Investing the time and resources up front will mean spending less time and resources during implementation, and reaping greater value. Don't overlook dependencies or important steps that reduce risk. Many HIT vendors do not support the planning effort, focusing instead on selling and installing systems, and moving on to the next customer. Vendors who recognize the need for a focus on planning have higher customer satisfaction. Yet, the onus for the majority of planning is on the organization.

HIT Goal Setting. Each organization needs to evaluate what it wants out of HIT, and define its own goals. This tool provides an overview of goal setting and template for tracking goals. (5-page Word doc)

Change Management. This overview describes change management, including change stages, transformation, agents of change, and possible barriers to making changes in your home health agency. (6-page Word doc)

Business Case: Total Cost of Ownership and Return on Investment. Use this spreadsheet to describe your actual expenditures (real total cost of ownership), and to determine actual return on investment (ROI) for any applications acquired. This tool should have been developed during planning, and updated throughout implementation in order to monitor the project budget. It should now be used to link the achievement of your goals with cost for a return on investment. (2-worksheet Excel doc)

HIT Acquisition Models. This tool outlines the differences between the three major ways you might acquire HIT: straight licensure, ASP/SaaS, and community offering. You will find some variation within each of these models. (2-page Word doc)

Workflow and Process Redesign. This Word document, PowerPoint presentation, and Webinar provide information on the purpose and steps involved in workflow and process redesign, as well as setting expectations to achieve goals, initiating change management, and using process mapping as a means to manage change. (6-page Word doc)

Workflow and Process Redesign handouts. (20-slide PowerPoint)

Workflow and Process Redesign. (32-minute Webinar)

Chart Conversion and Pre-Load Planning. Use his tool to determine how to move key information from paper charts into an EHR system. (3-page Word doc)

1.3 Select

The Adopt - Select section helps home health agencies understand the marketplace and conduct all aspects of vendor selection and contracting. The extent to which an agency needs to review the marketplace depends on its overall IT strategy. If you are part of a corporate structure, the selection process is performed for you. However, the assessment, planning, implementation, effective use, and exchange tools will still be very important for you to use.

HIT Code of Conduct. In the process of selecting a vendor for new HIT, home health agencies need to be as unbiased as possible, assuring that the selection process does not give unfair advantage to any one vendor. Review your own code of conduct or adopt a code of conduct such as the one in this tool. (2-page Word doc)

Vendor Selection and Understanding the Marketplace. This Word document, PowerPoint presentation, and Webinar provide a picture of the marketplace for HIT and EHR, including what products are available, how to navigate the marketplace, and buyer beware tips, as well as information on vendors, CCHIT certification, requirements analysis, request for proposal (RFP), due diligence, key differentiators, and contracting. (4-page Word doc)

Vendor Selection and Understanding the Marketplace. (17-slide PowerPoint)

Vendor Selection and Understanding the Marketplace. (20.19-minute Webinar)

Requirements Analysis. A critical step to acquiring HIT is to perform a requirements analysis. Although this step is typically aligned with preparing a request for proposal (RFP), the exercise to define the requirements specific to your organization needs can be a very important part of your education about HIT and EHR. (7-page Word doc)

Request for Proposal. Use this template to structure your request for vendors to send you proposals on the specific HIT you are interested in acquiring. (12-page Word doc)

Hardware Selection. Use this tool to assist in determining the most appropriate hardware for your health information technology (HIT) applications. (3-page Word doc)

RFP Analysis and Key Differentiators. Use this tool to serve as a guide for sending out the RFP and analyzing the results. Because many products will include many of the same functions, using responses to the RFP can be very difficult for narrowing the field of vendors for further due diligence. This tool can be helpful for conducting an objective, side-by-side comparison of vendors. (6-page Word doc)

Due Diligence. This document outlines the various forms of due diligence you may want to consider when performing your vendor selection. It provides tools to assist you in arranging for product demonstrations, site visits, and reference checks as part of your due diligence for evaluating vendors using your key differentiators. (9-page Word doc)

Vendor of Choice and Contract. Determining the vendor of choice may be the most difficult aspect of the acquisition process. This tool points out a few of the realities in selecting an EHR or other HIT. (7-page Word doc)

Support

Stratis Health has extensive experience in working with health care facilities to help them adopt and utilize EHR systems and to prepare them for exchanging information.

For support using the toolkit, contact: Stratis Health - Health Information Technology Services 952-854-3306, info@stratishealth.org

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